UNCW employee arrested for possession of child pornography

A UNSea card technician in the business affairs department has been charged with six counts of second degree exploitation of a minor.

Harvey Porter was arrested in his Rocky Point, NC home last Thursday for being in possession of child pornography. The arresting officer, Sgt. Brennan Regner of the Pender County Police Department, was informed of the investigation by North Carolina Internet Crimes Against Children taskforce.

The taskforce consists of local officers and the SBI Computer Crimes Unit, which helps law enforcement solve crimes involving a computer.

“Through an investigative process, we were able to find child pornography on Porter’s hardware and internet access,” Regner said.

The process is one that allows officers to isolate and pinpoint which computer is downloading the videos and/or photographs. In Porter’s case, the videos on his hard drive depicted prepubescent male and female children.

Porter has since been put on investigatory placement, meaning he has been relieved of his duties with the university until further judicial decisions have been made.

Employed with the university since 1996, Porter began his career as an officer with UNCW Police. In 1997, he was voluntarily reassigned as a computer support technician.

As of Tuesday, there was no indication Porter had committed a crime on campus, nor are there any other cases of this nature at UNCW.

The case with Porter is currently ongoing, according to Regner.